Blade Song

Sucked in to this book from the first page. There's a free sample here on GRs and I hadn't read maybe 15 pages when I knew I had to buy it.

This was brilliant urban fantasy. It had the basic three groups, shifters, vampires and witches. An added race was a nearly extinct and forgotten race of non human assassins called the Aneiris. The heroine was half Aneiris and half human so she was considered worthless to the Aneiris. She now worked as a private investigator. The story involves her being hired by the Cat shifters in Orlando to find a missing boy on the cusp of his first change.

Let me tell you people, the world building here was phenomenal. The vampires were bad bad people. The shifters were a mix but the Cat alpha was a sociopath. show more The witches here were nice but you got the impression that there were all types. This world was fairly dark but not oppressively so. Also it was explained in enough depth that it was full and rich but it did not feel info dumpy at all. The plot all made sense and moved along at a brisk pace.

The characterizations were stellar. The heroine was strong and had a smart mouth but she wasn't so snarky that she seemed a caricature. She was strong but she was also vulnerable and she was written consistently throughout. The hero was the alpha cat shifter's right hand man. He was determined and a bit abrasive but he was super hot. His job was to see that the heroine got the job done and that she stayed alive to do it. He was very determined to protect her from the first but also determined that she get the job done. The secondary characters were also well rounded so that no one seemed a stereotype.

I don't want to tell you any thing else that happens because you all need to read this for yourself. Just trust me. The action is fast the writing is wonderful and the relationship that develops is believable and fulfilling.

This is not a romance although it has a bit of a romance element. It is also not romantica or erotica. Solid and stellar urban fantasy here. If you like Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series, you will like this one too. I can't wait for the next one. show less

BLADE SONG, by J.C. Daniels, is an action-packed urban fantasy filled with all your favorite supernatural creatures and then some. Kit Colbana has really unique powers that will have anyone who likes this genre begging for more. When a terrible case of a missing teen is plopped on her lap by a dangerous cat, Kit can't help but accept. But she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for and the fight to save the boy and her life rests in her hands.

I really enjoyed this book. J.C. Daniels is a pseudonym for Shiloh Walker and I am always up for one of her books. Her gift for condensing a whole lot of information into an action-packed and riveting story is not lost on BLADE SONG. Right from the start I was invested in the characters and show more wondering if our heroine would make it out alive. I liked how all the characters weren't just good or bad, they all had a tangible past that made them who they were. I love a good book with well-rounded characters, especially in the dangerous world that these characters live in.

I loved the relationship between Damon and Kit, which started out as pure hatred and turned into something more. Their banter made me smile and I loved when they were alone together building on the chemistry they naturally possessed.

In terms of the case, I was biting my fingernails as Kit got closer to the truth. She involved herself with really bad and dangerous people/creatures, including a soul-sucking vampire whose intentions were less than savory. I found the story very intriguing on top of the already alluring characters.

Overall, a really fantastic book. Urban fantasy readers will love it and fans of Shiloh Walker will definitely love it! show less

Kit Colbana is a private investigator in the grand hard-boiled tradition. She's struggling to make ends meet, but refuses to take work from any quarter which she knows will only bring more trouble to her than benefit, like the vampires. She also generally avoids were-cats, but when the case that's brought to her – by a drop-dead gorgeous shapeshifter named Damon – involves a boy, a sixteen-year-old in the throes of his first change, which means he's a mess – and now he's missing. She should walk away; the cat Alpha is crazy, and crazy plus claws is bad… but the boy needs help. She takes the case.

Part of the case, unfortunately for her peace of mind, is accepting this Damon jerk as her sidekick. Whither she goeth, he goeth, and show more thereth not a thing she can doeth about it.

As in [book:The Twisted Kiss], there is a virus that causes lycanthropy in this world; it's a great deal like AIDS, in that it is spread through blood or sex (or heredity, or, of course, a bite). Unlike Kiss, this isn't post-apocalyptic, though, and unlike AIDS, it's almost likely you'll survive getting this virus. Not definite; lots of those who contract the virus die of it, but a percentage do make it and gain the ability to shift into a creature (wolves, rats, and various large cats are featured), benefiting from enhanced healing, speed, strength, all the usual good parts…

Also as in The Twisted Kiss, there is a heroine with Issues. Kit Colbana is half human, half aneira – think Amazon, the reader is told, only moreso – and this is what has led to her Issues; in a world where "non-humans" – weres and witches and vampires (and aneira) and humans are struggling to get along, being of mixed blood can have unpleasant consequences – especially when the relatives of the "non-human" half are completely intolerant of what they consider mongrels. Kit was raised by her grandmother. Banish from your mind all the usual connotations "raised" and "grandmother" usually have, and you'll start to get why Kit is damaged. It's realistically, wrenchingly, portrayed: what Kit has survived is a part of her that she does not choose to share or dwell on, but when it comes out in bits and fragments it is never played for the sympathy of the reader. It happened. It still affects her. Pity her at your own peril.

One hurdle this book put up for itself was that the heroine swears like a particularly ticked off sailor. Given that this has a first-person perspective, that means not just in dialogue. It usually doesn't trouble me; I wouldn't say this bothered me, but my eyebrows did go up a few times. Something to keep in mind if it does bother you. In large part, those travails Kit has gone through excused it for me; somehow, it would have felt a little less believable if she had said "gosh" and "darn".

Unlike The Twisted Kiss, this book is not written primarily as a showcase for sex scenes. That is not remotely a focus of the book – the last thing Kit is seeking right now is a fling, especially with this huge jerk Damon, however pretty he is. The characters, main and secondary alike, have a breath and life that lets this book rank much higher among urban fantasies than I expected; the death of one character was something I regretted quite a bit. There are a lot of very good things in this book I didn't expect. I have begun quite a few series this year, and with most of the ones I plan to pursue it will be "when I think of it", "The Colbana Files" is one series is one worth seeking out.

This was a Netgalley offering, read with thanks. show less

Shiloh Walker (a.k.a. J. C. Daniels) is one of those authors who’s been on my radar for a while but I’ve never actually tried, but with BLADE SONG, I could resist no longer! I'm a sucker for strong heroines, daunting tasks, and clever dialogue and BLADE SONG has all this and more.

Kitasa Colbana is one of my favourite new characters of the year. She's got all the hallmarks of a great urban fantasy heroine -- martial skills, a dark past, a strong sense of honour, a quick mind -- and she lives in a very interesting world. In Kit's world, humans know about the creatures that go bump in the night and some people even flock to Orlando, Kit's town, to see what the local shapeshifer population can do. There's even an Assembly of Non-Humans show more who ostensibly run the non-human populations. As part of a dying race, Kit's not really on the humans' radar but the other supernaturals know her, though they may not know what she is: half-human and half-aneira (or half-Amazon). The aneira have some really neat abilities: they can go invisible, they can sense what other supernaturals are, they can call their weapons to them, and weapons speak to them. In short, their skills give them the ability to be the best assassins, thieves, and hunters. These aren't the abilities we normally see in urban fantasy and I love that J. C. Daniels brings us a heroine with a slightly different flavour. Especially since, being a half breed, Kit was despised by her aneira family, though she's been making her own way in the world since she ran away from her family, and doing quite well up until this point.

Enter this case and Damon, the cat who brings it to her. He starts off as a major d-bag (there really is no other word for it) but he really grew on me -- and Kit -- over the course of BLADE SONG. Damon oozes alpha male for most of the story and it makes him a good if exceptionally frustrating partner for Kit. He and Kit remind me a lot of Kate and Curran from Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. Their relationship has that same tug-of-war feeling and the leads in both series exhibit similar traits. This doesn't mean that BLADE SONG is a remake of MAGIC BITES or anything like that. It's supposed to be a compliment: both worlds are filled with strong characters, creative world building, and plots that will keep you hooked. It just so happens that both of the female protagonists are hell-on-wheels with swords and both men are cats who come off as jerks but end up being quite irresistible. =)

I really enjoyed the main plot line of BLADE SONG. It starts off with a sort of simple mission: to find a missing shifter kid. And then it spirals into a larger mystery, involving a bunch of missing non-human kids. I loved the way the plot unfolded. I was hooked just as soon as Kit was and I was so wrapped up in the story I didn't even want to guess who the bad guy was. I wanted to discover it along with Kit. It's a well written mystery and I read BLADE SONG in a single evening because I needed to know who was behind the missing kids and what was going to happen to him/her when Kit and Damon figured it out.

BLADE SONG has everything I love in an urban fantasy – plucky heroine with major skills, broody love interest, high stakes, fast-paced action and great dialogue. The intensity keeps up throughout the entire novel and I’m absolutely dying to see where Kit goes next after the events of the final pages. I'd recommend this book wholeheartedly to fans of the Kate Daniels series, not just because they're both about fierce ladies with swords but because they're both strongly written stories with a lot of heart.

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Kit Colbana is a member of the Aneria - a race descended from the Amazons. Because she is half human, her people don't fully recognize her, leaving Kit essentially alone in the world. As a trained assassin and killer, Kit is more than able to make a living. When Kit is contacted by the werecats to help find a missing kid, Kit cannot resist taking the case. As someone with a history of being abused, Kit cannot help but get emotionally invested in the case, even if it means she has to deal with the Cats main enforcer Damon.

Blade Song is a PNR/UF which means that while this story could very will exist without the romance angle, it is weaved into the plot. Unfortunately, at times the romance feels quite forced. From the very first meeting show more between Damon and Kit, it's clear that they are going to move from hating to each other to loving each other. It makes Blade Song extremely predictable as far as that storyline is concerned. It's one thing to portray the dislike between two characters and another to make the love interest actively abusive.
No fear, damn it. I could still breathe…barely…and he wasn’t trying to kill me. He just wanted me afraid while he yelled at me.My blood is noble. My heart is strong. My aim is true. I am aneira…my heart is strong—No fear, damn it. I could be drowning in it, and he damn well could smell it on me, but I sure as hell wouldn’t show it.
This above passage is very heavily framed as saving Kit from her own stupidity but it sets the tone of things to come. There are several times in the story where Kit asks Damon to back away and give her space. At one point she becomes so desperate, she hides in the bathroom and sleeps in the bathtub. Then there's the fact that Damon simply refuses to respect her wishes when she asks him not to touch her.
His hand spread open over my neck and despite my intention to ignore it, I almost groaned at how good that felt. I was tempted to lean into—And then I realized I was—“Damn it,” I snapped. “Would you stop? I thought I made it clear, I’m a little freaked out by the fact that you keep touching me even though just an hour or so ago, your Alpha was telling you that you might be killing me soon.” (pg 46-47)
Damon spends much of the time in the book trying to convince Kit that he is not going to hurt her and with good reason. Because Damon bruised Kit's neck so badly, she could barely swallow. He claims he didn't know how fragile she was and that is why he didn't hold back his strength but the fact still remains that he hurt her so badly that he bruised her.

One of the things that irks me about the relationship between Kit and Damon is that she spends so much time saying that she doesn't want a relationship and that he wouldn't be good for her. Since Daniels was determined to force these two together, we never get to see Kit follow through on this. Given the fact that Damon physically hurt her, violated her trust and didn't respect her enough to stop touching her, this all should have been reason enough for Kit to refuse a relationship, particularly given her history of abuse.

Much of Blade Song is filled with Kit being triggered by different events. The descriptions of her abuse are quite graphic but it makes sense given that she is remembering what happened to her and trying to find a way to put it behind her. The years of abuse not only place Kit into a position to be triggered, they effect her daily life. Kudos for Daniels for actually portraying PTSD rather than having her character live through horrific events and remain untouched by them. After being told repeatedly how dirty she was as a child, Kit showers almost compulsively. Not only does she want to wash the past away but any suggestion that she might be less than. Often in this genre we see that a protagonist has a troubled past but rarely do we see the follow through with how said protagonist deals lives with the pain. As much as this was difficult to read, it made the story feel real to me and made Kit relatable.

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Published at Ruby's Books

No matter how many books from different genres I love, urban fantasy is still my favorite. Blade Song was an amazing read and I had a blast reading it.

J.C Daniels, also known as Shiloh Walker, managed to build an amazing world with this book. The first thing that stuck with me after I finished reading Blade Song was the fact that for once, vampires (or a certain vampire) weren't among the good guys. That was fresh and new for me. Even though a twisted part of me still thought that the vamp was incredibly hot (what can I say, I have a soft spot for the creatures), I liked the break from the usual image of the good blood-sucking guy. I also liked the fresh take on vampires and how they feed and their powers and show more the bond between them and their victims.

I enjoyed the fact that there were many creatures (some of them new to me) and the fact that we get to learn about their society and how they interact and the hierarchy and all that. It wasn't too much information, like it sometimes happens with a first book in a new series, but it was enough for me to understand the world in which the plots evolve. There aren't too many descriptions, but I loved that because I could let my imagination run wild and make the world of Blade Song unique for me.

I really liked Kit. She was one of those tough heroines that know when to be soft and compassionate as well. She's impulsive, reckless and has a thing for weapons, which I understood completely and I loved her for it. I also liked to see her interact with Damon (sexy name, by the way). Their relationship started off really wrong, but they managed to get past that.

There were things that I didn't completely understand in Kit's behavior at times, such as the fact that even though she's amazing with her sword, we never actually see her using it in battle. I would've wanted to see that. Also I felt that at times Kit felt the need to repeat herself more times than necessary. I understood her need to always lash out at people when they got too close, though. With her background, it's a wonder she doesn't kick everybody's ass before asking what they want from her and why.

If you love paranormal, urban fantasy and strong heroines, do check this book out. You won't be sorry. No to wait for the second book in the series, Night Blade. show less

Blade Song by J. C. Daniels is an urban fantasy novel that follows the investigations of Kit Colbana when a powerful were-cat’s nephew goes missing and Kit must deal with allies, enemies and her own emotions to find the boy before it’s too late for him and therefore her as well. No one said working with shifters was a good idea….
I was in the mood for urban fantasy a while ago and went through Netgalley to find some new novels that needed some promotion. Blade Song looked like your typical kick-butt female urban fantasy, but turned out to be much more familiar than I really expected. Urban fantasy is definitely starting to get a bit stale as a genre with the same premises being used over and over, but Blade Song went beyond that in show more emphasizing the things that bother me about the genre right now….



Goodreads
Title: Blade Song
Author: J. C. Daniels
Pages: 261
Genre-ish: Urban Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆ - interesting plot, major annoyances
Setting: The typical urban fantasy setting with vampires, were-shifters, witches and amazon descendants living in the open or in secret of our modern day world.
Premise: Kit Colbana is a half-breed amazon who is now working as a mercenary/investigator and is asked/commanded by the leader of the were-cats to find a missing nephew. The boy’s disappearance starts to have a few too many coincidences around it and you’ll never guess the ending!
Strengths:
The writing was fairly compelling and interesting. When annoying things weren’t happening I definitely wanted to keep turning those pages!
I liked the way witches were portrayed: much more Wiccan than dark and evil as they often are portrayed in urban fantasy.
The plot development was interesting and I enjoyed the twist at the end.
Weaknesses:
The premise of a sword-wielding, rare heritage mercenary/investigator woman hired by a powerful cat shifter who annoys her but she eventually falls for is waaaaaay too familiar and I’m afraid that I like Kate Daniels way better….
The concept of a strong woman falling in lust/love with a guy who has physically abused, stalked, controlled and generally completely disrespected her pissed me off to no end, ugh!
The general flow of the plot was fairly predictable, including the romance element….
Summary:
Urban fantasy is a genre that is starting to get worn out for me. Blade Song could easily have had a slightly different premise to keep from being so blatantly similar to a favorite series, which was disappointing. More so, though, I hate female characters that make such bad relationship role models. These things combined to tarnish the good writing and interesting plot that could have made Blade Song an enjoyable book. show less